Singapore - Singapore's Changi Airports International (CAI) and its Russian partner Basic Element have cleared the initial round of the bidding process to develop and operate St Petersburg's main airport, CAI said Thursday.

The Pulkovo International Airport development is Russia's first public-private partnership project for an airport.

The other bidders for the 1-billion-US-dollar project include India's GMR Infrastructure, Turkey's TAV Airports and Austria's Vienna Airport in alliance with Russia's Gazfond and Gazprombank.

Pulkovo Airport was expected to see consistently strong growth in passenger traffic. It handled 6.13 million passengers in 2007, a 20.3-per-cent rise from 2006.

A decision on the contract was expected by March.

CAI, which wrapped up an advisory project at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport earlier this year, has extended its presence to India, China and the Middle East.

Basic Element, owned by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, has interests in energy, natural resources, manufacturing, financial services, construction and aviation. (dpa)